BigMac wrote:He should do what his team tells him to do. Andy needs him, so if Guercilena or whatever DS is going to the Tour wants him, he will go.

Maybe he can even get the stage win.

Of course Andy has got to have the legs, otherwise he'll be useless. So it should depend more on how Andy faces the first half of the season, and if the team thinks it is worth to take Fabian, according to the young Schleck's form.

I want Cancellara to ride the tour.

Don't forget though that the Schleck's status in the team has significantly lowered. It's not about GT's anymore, but about the classics, and Cancellara is the main rider on the squad. Guercilena is even his private coach. So I think the situation is that Cancellara can decide on what he wants, and then the Schlecks have to make do, not the other way around.

De Snelle Duif wrote:Couldn't they let Devolder help Andy?

Good call. Devolder showed last year that he still has it in him. If he can reach that level again this year, he'd be a great asset on the team. Same would even count for a few other guys since Trek really has a good cobbles squad, like Roulston or Rast. Sure it would not be the same as having Cancellara, but still highly experienced cobbles veterans

karlboss wrote:Cancellara should ride the Tour win the cobbles stage by a enough time to wear yellow till stage 10, also win another stage somewhere. No waiting for Andy on the cobbles Cancellara is the leader now

It is not just the Cobbles, the second stage is similar to Liege, it is goint to be differences, Cancellara would be a good help for andy there... but anyway I understand Cancellara must do his own calendar...I didnt realize Devolder is in the team, he can do that...

Taxus4a wrote:It is not just the Cobbles, the second stage is similar to Liege, it is goint to be differences, Cancellara would be a good help for andy there... but anyway I understand Cancellara must do his own calendar...I didnt realize Devolder is in the team, he can do that...

Second stage...the clue is already there, it's a stage not a classic. Gaps will be tiny, speaking of which Mendriso, Beijing, Varese, Cancellara can ride a lumpy one day race without losing time. Especially when whole teams are going to defend the 10th placed GC riders time.

and round about, riding the tour will give Cancellara the confidence to win the worlds He doesn't even need to finish the Tour.

I really have no idea, I only hope that Cancellara gets to dictate what he rides and how.

Careful - you must take Becca's words with a pinch of salt. He has been giving interviews left and right, TV and newspapers, flinging lots of dirt on the Schleck brothers.

Both sides are to blame. It seems like there was a lot of hybris involved on the Schleck brothers' side when they started the team. There was also a fundamental misunderstanding between Becca and the Schlecks, or maybe rather naïveté on the Schleck brothers' side.

The team was started with a vibe of "bunch of friends", lots of autonomy for the riders, do whatever you want, just have fun with it. Becca was portrayed as a wealthy benefactor, who does this for fun, out of the goodness of his heart. This was never the case, and it became very clear in a recent TV interview that he gave. Becca was gambling on receiving a big gouvernment project, namely to build a football stadium, a vélodrome and an outlet mall, all on the same site. The whole reason he got into cycling, was to take advantage of the Schleck brothers' fame in order to get political advantages. Politics was very intertwined with this project: there was a congressman in the board of directors of Leopard S.A., the companies Enovos and Luxair that were sponsors of the team are partly state-owned, ministers were in the first row at the team presentation next to Becca, the Schlecks and Cancellara gave a Leopard jersey to the Prime Minister on the same date.

In the recent TV documentary, Becca said: "... and then you do something big, something good for this country, and what do you get in return? Nothing but rocks in your path". This is really the poodle's core. Becca hoped that this project would open doors for him, and it didn't. His companies got audited by the feds who came in with a warrant. The big football-mall-vélodrome project didn't have the political support and got canceled. Leaving Becca to realise that he sank millions and millions into this project, and got nothing in return.

Another main problem was the lack of a sponsor. Becca claims that he had signed a pre-contract with a main sponsor, which included a possibility for the sponsor to back out if there was another doping scandal before a stipulated date. Then the Alberto Contador scandal broke - and the sponsor backed out, leaving Becca to cough up the money himself. This is probably why they claimed "The team will not be called Leopard", and then it ended up being called just that after all, because the sponsor backed out. When Becca then saw the opportunity to merge with Radioshack, he jumped on it. Don't forget that both teams could have continued, but Becca insisted on his exclusive contract with Trek, and thus on the destroyment of the Radioshack team.

Another very true statement came from former manager Brian Nygaard. He said in the documentary, "you must be consequent as a manager". You can't start a team and leave the riders absolute freedom for a year, and then from one day to the other change that completely - it doesn't work. They started it like that, and it worked alright more or less most of the time, and they should have continued in that way. But when Becca brought in Bruyneel and completely changed the dynamics of the team, the riders didn't respect him anymore, and didn't accept the new structure.

So I believe that that's why the Schlecks wanted out. Yes, it is their fault for being naïve and wanting too much, but we must also consider that they ended up with something completely different that what they had signed up for, even built themselves.

Both parties are equally to blame in this story. The problem is, you only hear Becca's side, because he has been telling it to anyone who can suffer through an interview with him. The Schlecks have kept quiet - maybe because they have realized their mistakes, and figure, don't through rocks when you're sitting in the glass house. It's the smart thing to do. Becca is a businessman, and thinks like one - therefore he can only see his business mistakes, but does not seem to think he did anything else wrong in the handling of the team.

Regardless of the liking or disliking the Schlecks part it looks like the one in particular to blame here is Becca. He took a risk and with building a team around the Schlecks he involved them. Unfortunately he lost but you can't blame that on spoiled cyclists, first of all they delivered in their first year (TdF '11) and suddenly changing the complete structure of a team won't help either to get results. The Schlecks certainly made mistakes and they weren't worth their very generous salary but in the bigger picture I would say this is mostly Becca's mess.